Stockholm: Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi today won the Stockholm Open after outplaying Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in the summit clash, enhancing their chances to qualify for the season-ending World Tour Finals.
The top seeded Indo-Pak pair lived up to its top billing, downing the fourth-seeded Brazilian opponents 6-1 6-4 in just 57 minutes in the euro 600,00 hard court event.
Bopanna and Qureshi are placed seventh in the teams’ ranking list. Top eight teams will compete in the final in London.
It was second ATP doubles title of the season for Bopanna and Qureshi, and third together. Overall, it is Bopanna’s fourth ATP doubles title as he had won a title in 2008 with American Eric Butorac at Los Angeles.
They split euro 29400 as prize money and captured 250 ranking points each.
“It feels great to have won our second title of the year and this is the best way to keep ourselves in contention for a berth in London,” Bopanna said after the win.
“It has been a great week for us here. It’s also very special for me here thanks to the Pakistani fans who come to the stadium to support us. Of course, I also want to thank Rohan. We have been playing together for two years now and it’s going great,” said Qureshi.
Before this win, Bopanna and Qureshi had triumphed at Halle this year and at Johannesburg in 2010.
The Indo-Pak Express’ now moves to compete in Valencia Open in Austria. (PTI)